


Im just so glad that you're here

by Chamy_Sammy



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Just a whole lotta fluff near the end, Percy buff, Percy sees a lot of good in a lot of people and by god does she see good in him, Ramsey just genuinely likes Percy, i love these two so much, love feels different for different people, they havent had a single good day since the last time theyve seen eachother, this is the first thing im posting that took multiple days to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22157500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chamy_Sammy/pseuds/Chamy_Sammy
Summary: Percy isn't entirely used to getting help, and Ramsey isn't used to giving it on such a large scale. But they get this weird feeling when they're around eachother, almost as if that might be able to change.
Relationships: Percival "Percy" King/Ramsey Murdoch
Comments: 19
Kudos: 151





	Im just so glad that you're here

"Good evening, Mr. Murdoch."

Ramsey snapped out of his thoughts at his name. He looked up from his seat on his bed to see who might be the only cop he'd ever be happy about seeing.  
"Percy? What's up, you need appraising? Got a case?" He shot to his feet, gripping the bars of his cell.  
"Please, I'm itching to do something here."  
Real jail was exactly as luxurious as he had expected. And even with the accomadations Percy promised, he expected it to be boring as all hell.

"Ah, it appears we are skipping the formalities, then." Percy noted.  
"I need to borrow you for today because..." She trailed off and looked down the hall to her side. She cleared her throat before speaking again, in a notably louder tone.  
"There are loose ends of the museum case and I believe your experience may bring insight on how to solve them." Her voice was stiff, posture moreso. She let out a breath at the end of her sentence, seemingly relieved.

"Uh, y'alright there, Perce?" He asked, trying to press his face through the bars far enough to see what she was looking at. He didn't see much, just a standard guard at the end of the hall. However, in this closer position, he noticed the bags under her eyes.

"I am feeling healthy, yes. Are you prepared to head out?"

"What, right now?" Ramsey asked, excitement building in his limbs.  
"I mean, yeah. Yeah! I'm ready! Don't got anything else going on."

"Great." She unlocked the door and lead him to the front desk. He smirked at the other prisoners they passed.

...

"So what's this loose end, eh?" Ramsey teased after the two had been driving for a few minutes. The jailors had been kind enough to lend him his normal outfit back while they were out. Well, his vacation outfit. But its not like he was in the mood to wear his business suit at the moment.  
"We got the amulet, and most of those Bonzai blasters. Oh!" He snapped his fingers. "Is it about that Giovanni guy?"

Percy's tired eyes glance to him before turning back to the road, and she was quiet for a few moments.  
"Not exactly." She murmured.  
"I may have... Not been... Entirely truthful."

"Yeah, kinda figured." Ramsey hummed, locking his hands behind his head and leaning back in the chair.  
"You ain't exactly the best liar."

Percy sighed, closing her eyes for a moment.  
"Yes, that is one of my vices."  
Her voice quieted in a way Ramsey hadn't quite heard before.

Ramsey felt his smile lose luster, and put his hands back in his lap. He leaned forward a little bit, trying to get a good read of her face. It lacked any emotion, as it normally did. "Hey, just say what you need me for, alright?" He said, hoping to change topics. "I promise I won't tell on you, even if it's against the law." He rubbed his chin, a sly grin creeping up one side of his mouth. "Especially if its against the law."

She gave a small, soft, ghost of a laugh, and Ramsey felt something tighten in his chest.  
"I promise you, I am not breaking any laws, today or otherwise." She assured.  
"I simply have some.. More personal effects I would like appraising of."  
She looked his way once again, face losing any trace of the joy she had just displayed, falling back into neutral.  
"You don't need your epithet to appraise, do you?"

Ramsey looked down at the single cuff around his wrist and thought about it.  
"I don't." He said with confidence, the thought of lying to get out of the cuff only crossing his mind after the fact.

"Good. I do apologize for that, but it is my duty to lower your chances of escaping in any way possible."

The conversation stopped there. Minutes passed, and his mind wandered.  
He thought about why in the world he didn't lie to her. Its not like he hadn't before. Heck, almost the entirety of the day they met he had been lying to her. Maybe he should backtrack and-  
He let out a yelp as two of the car's tires slipped off the road, his hands zipping to the car door and the side of his seat to hold him in place.  
He looked to Percy in a panic, who's head shot up -wait, her head was down?- and she quickly righted the vehicle.

Her breaths were shallower, hair frazzled, eyes wide.

"Percy?"

"I'm fine." She snapped.

"What, did you just fall asleep or something?"  
He asked, mostly as a joke to relight the mood. Still, his voice was a little shaky.

She didn't respond, and he could see her shoulders tense.

He gulped and his jaw set in realization.  
"Pull over. I can drive."

"No. What kind of officer would I be if I couldn't-"

"I'll behave, promise. Pull over."

"But that's not-" she trailed off. Her mouth tugged downward, and he could see the reasoning going on within her brain. She sighed, wordlessly pulling the car into an open space.

...

Ramsey's eyes darted around the neighborhood of tall houses smushed together. This part of town seemed to be somewhat upper scale, and he couldn't help but imagine the goodies that lay inside each house. Still, robbing places like these seemed a little small scale to him. Guess they're safe for now.

Ultimately it hadn't been a much farther drive, but he was happy to have taken over. He looked to Percy in the passenger's seat. Her phone was open on a maps app, showing him where to go, while she sat in silence. Her eyes drifted closed every so often, posture slouching, but she would then snap back up a few moments later and insist she was only "resting her eyes" for a moment. Any accusations of needing a good nap were rejected.

"We're here." Ramsey announced as he pulled into the driveway.

Her eyes blinked open. "Yes. Of course."

She led the way inside, motioning him into the living room with a tilt of her head.  
"I will obtain the affects. Please do wait here."

Ramsey nodded and examined the room around him. The inside felt a bit more spacious than he would have expected. While he generally would have considered this nice, the lack of furniture and people made it feel almost suffocatingly empty.  
He cerfainly couldn't imagine living here alone.  
A shiver ran down his spine.

Percy descended the stairs with light steps, and he felt relief flood through him upon her arrival.

"So, what's with the big place, eh? Got a roommate?" He asked, instinctively taking a few steps closer.

"No, it's just me."

"Then why is there so...." He generally motioned above him with his hands.  
"Much?"

She paused, looking to the side for a moment.  
"I inherited it from my parents. It was our family home."

"Hm." Ramsey scratched his chin, offhandedly pondering his own living arrangement.  
"How're they doin'? Your parents, i mean."

"They're dead."

Percy walked past him, while he stood stock still for a few moments while he processed.  
It clicked in his head and he blinked a few times.  
"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It happened a long time ago. I doubt it was your doing."

He dropped the subject there, not wanting to make her upset. Though based on her reactions, he genuinely wasn't sure if she would be. Still, better safe than sorry.

She sat on her couch, so he sat next to her, watching intently as she placed down the long, velvet box she recieved from upstairs.  
He flipped the top open, and immediately identified it as a white gold and sapphire necklace, the gem in the middle a large oval. His eyes flicked up to the flash of white on the inside of the upper half of the box, seeing a small paper slip. 'To Percy' it read in curly cursive letters.  
"If you're worried you got scammed, you weren't. I can tell that already." He said, a smile tugging at his lips at the beauty of the gift.

"Its not that." She clarified.  
"How much is it worth?"

He lifted it out of the box, testing the weight, quality, and anything else that might be relevant.  
"35 years old, maybe 40," he mumbled to himself, working it all out. "Gem's pretty large, but sapphires dont go for much on their own. Usually paired with..." He brought it closer to his eye, catching the studs on the rim around the gem. Percy leaned in slightly, caught up in the curiosity of jewelry.  
"It's got diamond studding though, that brings it up to about..." He lifted his head, looking back to the cop with confidence.  
"More than two thousand, less than three. I'm thinking two thousand six hundred at least."

Percy's eyes went downcast for just a moment, and she returned to her previous position.  
"And that's.. Decent. That's fine."

He was starting to get worried at this point, tension growing in his shoulders.  
"You're gonna sell it, aren'tcha?" He asked.

Percy bristled. "I'm afraid I may not have a choice." She took the box back and closed it.  
"Money has been a bit tight lately. Things have been breaking, nothing in this house was made to be supported by one person."

His eye searched her freckled face. The deep lines under her eyes, hair just the slightest bit in disarray, her wrinkled uniform.  
"And you've been staying up late doing extra work to try and scrounge up some more money, haven'tcha?"

She stayed quiet for a moment, staring at her hands in her lap.

Ramsey sighed and shook his head.  
"C'mon, hun. You're like, the only good cop out there. You need more sleep." He omitted telling her that his schedule was most likely much worse. "You shoulda just told me. You can..." He scratched the back of his head, looking away somewhat sheepishly. "You can crash at my place, if you want. I need someone to watch my plants while I'm locked up, anyway."

"Oh." She clasped her hands together in her lap, tapping her thumbs together, before turning back to look at him. She tilted her head, a few stray strands of hair falling in front of her eyes.  
"Hun?" She asked.

Ramsey felt his heart leap, and he tried to grasp his chest as discreetly as possibly, face slightly reddening.  
"Huh?" Was all he could muster to get out of his mouth.

"You called me hun. Why?"

"Oh did I?" Ramsey asked as calmly as possible despite his inward panic. He lost cognitive function, trying to desperately recall what he had said in the past few minutes.

She gave a genuine grin and his arm a playful nudge, dealing 2 damage.  
"I am simply teasing you. It was most likely a Freudian slip due to you thinking about honeyed snacks."

He snapped his fingers.  
"Yes! Of course. That is correct."  
He laughed nervously.  
"No other reason."

Percy tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear, smiling sideways at him.  
"Thank you, Ramsey. That does mean a lot."

He let out a breath of relief at the averted crisis, feeling panic drain away.  
"It's no problem."  
He clapped his hands and turned his attention towards her tv, not sure how long he'd be able to stand staring at her smiling face.  
"Anyway! If my job is done here, I believe it's time for a little R&R." He grabbed the remote next to him, and immediately started flipping through channels.

"Yes, you may use my television." Percy declared, far too late. She rose to her feet.  
"Now I really must attend to fixing-"

Ramsey lightly took hold of her wrist and guided her back to sitting on the couch.  
"R&R for you. You deserve it, alright?"  
He gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder before turning his attention back to the screen.  
"Whatdya wanna watch?"

"News.. I need to stay updated on..." She caught Ramsey lifting an eyebrow at her, and sighed.  
"Right. Stop working. I suppose... A cooking show would be nice."

"Hey, I can get behind that." Ramsey handed her the remote and gave a single cheer of excitement as she flipped to the food channel, currently airing a Cake Battle special.

This was something they both liked, luckily.  
The pair sat and watched, Ramsey getting very into it and encouraging Percy to do the same. While she didn't cheer as much or as loudly for her chosen favorite baker, she was quite obviously enjoying herself. Percy turned her eyes to the man she kept having to remind herself was a criminal. He got so into it he kept trying to tell the people in the screen to add more sugar, not to forget that pot on the stove, that their idea didn't match the theme close enough.  
Percy couldn't quite grasp how he could get so invested like this, but watching the display sent a calm, happy warmth through her chest, and she realized everything would be okay.

...

Evening turned into night rather quickly, and the excitement slowed down. Cake Battle had ended a short while ago, and it transitioned into some home baking show. Ramsey shifted into watching in a content silence, and the way Percy's eyelids visibly got harder to open after each blink didnt elude him.

He still found it quite surprising when her head fell on his shoulder.

His breathing stopped, and he fought hard not cough out of surprise and risk waking her up.  
He tentatively placed a hand on her upper back, and she unconsciously draped an arm across his lap. He let out a shaky, whistly breath and swallowed thickly, begging himself not to do anything to disturb her.

He slowly leaned back, bracing himself with his other arm, until the two of them were in a more comfortable position. He tried to ignore the fact that he could tell she was wearing some sort of floral perfume in this proximity. He closed his eyes, Percy's gentle breaths against his chest doing nothing to soothe his racing heart.  
Part of him wanted to get out of there as fast as humanely possible.  
The other part never wanted to leave.

...

Ramsey's eyes blinked open, staring at a ceiling different from that of his cell. It took him a few moments to fully remember where he was. He sat up, rubbing sleep from his eye and trying to stretch out a crick in his back. He was about to swing his legs off the couch, when he noticed a blanket draped over him that he was sure hadn't been here last night.

"Good morning." Came Percy's voice from the kitchen.

He looked up to see her back to him. He had to blink a few times to comprehend she wasn't in her uniform, but a white tank top clinging loosely to the defined muscles of her back, and large grey sweatpants.

"Uh... Mornin'."  
He greeted, face red as he scratched the back of his head.

"Coffee or tea?"

"Yeah, uh, coffee please."  
A few moments later, she walked back to the couch and handed him a small penguin shaped mug, keeping the blue one for herself.  
"Thank you. For, uh, this. And the blanket."

"You're welcome."

Ramsey had a hard time thinking of something else to say, and his eyes were drawn back to her attire. He hummed, a proud grin growing on his face.  
"No uniform?" He asked, hoping he already knew what it meant.

"No. I have decided to take the day off." She looked to him with steady eyes, but her posture and face were more relaxed than he'd ever seen.  
"Thank you, for what you said last night. it really does mean a lot to me."

He waved his hand.  
"Yeah, I am pretty great." He had a smug look on his face, which softened the more he though about what to say next.  
"And... You can grab my apartment keys whenever you wanna. Just make sure not to water my cacti too much when you get in there, got it?"

"Oh, that reminds me." Percy said after downing another sip of her coffee.  
"I need to take you back to jail."

A weird noise came out of Ramsey's throat and he coughed.  
"Oh. I think you have made a mistake. I-"

"I was only authorized to take you out for the day, so we need to get going soon." She rose and went to grab a jacket and her car keys.

Ramsey sighed, familiar with the inevitable. While she rooted around for what he could only assume to be his papers, he walked up next to her, hands behind his back.  
"I'm glad you dragged me out here, yknow."

"Its not like prison is a hot commodite."

"Well obviously, but I'm glad I was here with you. Uh. Specifically, I mean." He rubbed his arm, words never as eloquent as he would like.

She sorted her items and gathered them into one hand before turning back to Ramsey.  
"Yes. I am too." She started walking to the car, pausing for a moment when Ramsey didn't immediately follow. He seemed a bit preoccupied with fixing his shallowed breaths.  
"Are you coming, hun?"

"WHAT."

"Apologies. I must have been thinking about honeyed snacks."

Ramsey shook his head, a bewildered smile growing on his face.  
"I can't even tell if she's messing with me." He murmured as he ran a hand through his hair, before jogging to the passenger side door.

**Author's Note:**

> Percy be like "i need to do everything to make sure you dont escape" and then just leaves him on the couch while she goes to make them some coffee. What a life.  
> I borrowed the headcanon from "Sleep is for the weak (and other things teenagers tell themselves)" by  
> QueenSonokon that Percy inherited her house from her parents and kinda ran with it. Also I'm a little rusty with pacing, but I hope this still reads well!
> 
> Excuse if the title is a little dramatic compared to the actual content, coconut ranger has been stuck in my head and making me emotional all day
> 
> Edit: went back and fixed a few grammar/spelling mistakes. I wrote like 80% of this on the verge of falling asleep so please excuse those


End file.
